NOMADICISTA

Here you can see the range that we were shooting at.

This is me just having hit Lord Orwin in the helmet , those with a magnifying glass will note the arrow still in the air , just between the two fighters, as it bounces off M'Lords helm.



Pretty close to the highlight of my week.

I might get a bit more involved in this archers stuff, it seems to be something I can do

beautiful pictures and loved the gypsy fair picture yaw had a convoy going on for sure, looked like allot of fun and interesting pictures, they all seem to have put the doors and steering wheels on the wrong side of the bus, what were they thinking? James in da GRAYDAWG

I used to play in the SCA! No shit...there I was...

Dusty wrote:I have a friend who is right into old trucks

I was at his place a little while ago and thought , yep, gotta share a bit of this with you guys ......

So many potential housetrucks

just tucked away under the trees



I really love this one ,



But they are just tantalizing us he has them there as garden art

dusty i sure would like to see more of these ,, please steve

Hi people, in the aftermath of the several nasty earthquakes we have had , I have been stressed and keeping a low profile, I've done LOTS of miles in the bus and have a couple of pics to share , and a sad tale....

First up a nice pic , old Mercedes House Truck , at Ashburton.



and a cute Bedford VAS (7.3 metre long)



These were parked up at the Ashburton Motor Home Expo. There were about 300 motorhomes available for sale . and some trade stalls. I bought some LED lights for the bus , very low current draw , but very antiseptic white light.

One of the vans had a cute sign on the back of it.



Later I went and visited the site of the Canterbury Easter Rally.

There were nearly 500 vehicles there , all parked WAY too close together for my personal comfort level. But each to their own , eh.



Amusing moment when the band CYCLED past



A while ago someone asked what my truck looked like, Well .... here it is .... towing my bus after hurtling up and down the country over the past few months , the old 330 diesel decided it had had enough and siezed!

I had to make a stiff drawbar to get it home again.

Now I am forced to stop procrastination on the repower . I start stripping the Nissan donor truck this coming week.

The stiff drawbar

Nice pics! I really like that Mercedes!
I thought I had it bad when my starter went out..no way that the jeep was going to tow my rig. Good luck with the new engine!

Dusty, that is sad news! Thank goodness you didn't have to pay to have it towed though. THAT is one of my biggest fears with my bus...breaking down somewhere far away.

Your photos are nice, thanks for posting them. I have a tshirt the same as that sticker

Those vehicles are parked too close for my comfort, too. Reminds me of living in Arizona

I went to the Ashburton Vintage car club Swap Meet today , sold a few items , got rained on , left early and stopped at the Gypsy Fair down the road , talked for a while with some old friends , saw a nice old Kenworth doing relaxed duty ......



Its got 6 rollouts



Of course it is very roomy inside , and fitted out in a lovely warm style.



Complete with pedal organ.



Pretty cool really

Dusty, thanks again for posting so many wonderful photos.

Love the trucks sitting at the fence line, almost looks like they are watching and waiting for someone to pick them to be restored, the cute puppy in the window type scenerio. The engine in my 64 bus runs good now, but I also worry about it breaking down on the road, its a detroit 8V71. I am planning on plumbing a pancake style air compressor into my bus for just peace of mind, and using to level with. at least I will have air for the air ride suspension and brakes if the motor craters. My 1 ton Dodge 4x4 has already pulled my bus out when it was stuck in the mud and gravel RV parking spot I had been parked in. or should I say sunk in. A 18 wheeler style wrecker large enough to tow a bus is $400.oo a HOUR here. I would love to have a 60's era Dodge power wagon body, sitting on a modern day 1 ton 4x4 Cummings running gear. Just the Nostaulgia of it would be good advertiisement for the Hot Shot bussiness and make company personel remember who to call for work. The KW was beatiful, but a old pipe organ would have really impressed me, They could have built them on a trailer to pull behind the truck , and the sound is so comforting from them. Please keep us posted on the repower, will be a interesting read for sure.
TAKE CARE
James in da GRAYDAWG

Sorry to hear about your engine Dusty.

All good things must come to an end...to make room for better things!

Very cool Kenworth!

Update on engine work.
Here is the donor truck, 1989 Nissan Condor



I rolled the cab onto my tiny trailer , to take it to the scrap steel man.



got $47 for it , LOL.

However I sold the doors , grill, bumper, headlights, stone guard and some other bits separately for $700, so that all helped balance the books.

Hauled the engine/gearbox out using my gantry. I made it from the steel I plan to use for the front bumper for the VAS Bedford, and some old scaffold pipes.



Dragging the chassis away with the chevy. That chassis is 8.8meters long .... I gotta find a use for that steel somewhere ....

Shifted the gantry across to in front of the SB3, carved a bit off the Macrocarpa stumps to bolt the bus bumper to them, borrowed a length of box steel to poke into the bus, to lift the engine with,



I had to use my little 1/2 ton hoist to lift the 1 1/2 ton hoist up to the top of the gantry , as the bigger chain block was to heavy to carry up the ladder



Much struggling later , the stuffed 330 diesel is withdrawn from Beddy.



Drafty hole



Next challenge is to remove the old manual steer box and engineer suitable support for the Nissan Power steer box.



More later . . .

That's quite a project, Dusty!

What are the specifications on the Nissan engine? Is it turbo'd? Will you be gaining any horsepower in the swap?

Best of luck on the power steering conversion. My Housetruck is full manual, and it's a handful to maneuver and park. Also very tiring to drive over long distances, partly because of the effort needed to turn the wheel, but also because it's really loose and sloppy, and to drive a reasonably straight line requires a lot of wheel twisting and guesswork!

Show us more pics as you progress.